frogster221

i want to connect 2 tanks. one is a 20 gallon and the other is a 10 gallon can i connect these 2 by an aqua bridge or is there an easier way that doesnt include drilling holes in the sides of my tanks. if i can connect the tanks via aqua bridge how would i do that? i also would like the tanks to be either sorta T shaped or end to end. please help. thanks

p.s. if anybody needs to get rid of a tank i'll buy it off your hands

Shawnie

lol there are alot of fishaholics here..i think we all buy more and never seem to get rid of any...happy hunting!

frogster221

hey one day someone will eventually have to get rid of one for some reason

sirdarksol

The easiest way that I can think of is to drill holes in the sides of the tank, and that is not easy.
The only other way that I can come up with is what I'm guessing you're calling an aqua bridge. If you put an upside-down "U" (made out of clear piping) with one branch in each tank, suck all of the air out of it, and make sure that the water level in each tank stays above the opening in the piping, the water will remain in that area. We've seen this kind of setup with a single tank, and the effect is awesome, but it's difficult to pull off. You need to keep the vessel that extends above the surface of the water very steady so you don't end up with a horrible accident.

GreenMan13

Aqua bridge between tanks?

Try that forum.

frogster221

where could i get like a u shaped clear tube and how can i get the air out of the tube

GreenMan13

Look at the last post on that forum. I think it has another link to a forum of someone looking for clear tubes.

frogster221

i know my LFS sells clear tubing for watever reason but its really thin the bridge will only span for about a foot total length above the water could i use that? and if i do cannect the 2 tanks by an aqua bridge can i only use 1 30 gallon filter for the bothe or should i have a filter for the both of them?

GreenMan13

How thin is thin? Is it like a long tube about the diameter of a florescent bulb? My LFS sells some like that which are for covering the tube to protect it or to just change the color of the tube. Those are really thin, like you could crease then with your fingers. They would not be thick enough.

Also is this with the tank that you are going to try and make into a terrarium? If so, I don't think a water bridge might be difficult due to the height above the water.

Pump wise, a canister would be best in this case so you can pump out of one area and into the other so that water flows through the tube so that the tube stays cleaner. Other wise two would probably be needed, one for each tank since the water would not mix that much between tanks.

Trpimp147

um a person on here has connected two larger tanks i just have to find the post where he did that give me a few


here is what timg did with one of his tanks How is it done?

same way just put it over two tanks im still looking for the other one i seen of his.

here is the one i was looking for ....clear pvc pipe?
i donno were you would find clear PVC piping.... you can use them flurencet tube things just no 90 degree angle in clear... or maybe that size works well i hear some stores to sell them already made u just hook up a air pump to suck that air out of the tube set up.

30yrfishguy

i have seen this done using hamster tubing..the kind they use on habitats. sealing the plastic rings with silicone to each segment of 3" plastic tubing. the one i saw was irridecent yellow with green plastic connectors. and low and behold if i didnt see fish actually swim through the thing.

frogster221

i want to connect my 2 10 gallon tanks up next to each other to make a long 20 gallon tank

frogster221

i tested the thin plastic tubing from my lfs and i know it can handle the waight of the water but i'm having trouble curving it to the next tank i was thinking about cutting it in such a way that they would form a 90 degree angle then using some hot glue to waterproof the seam in my head it works but i wanted to get some oponions first

GreenMan13

Can you post a picture of this tubing?

sirdarksol

Instead of hot glue, I would get some of the silicone tank sealant. It was made to hold this kind of pressure. You could probably use hot glue to quickly tack the tubes together, then use the silicone to actually seal them.
I've used the stuff on a number of DIY projects, and it has yet to fail me.

timg

Hi all! Just a quick look in and couldn't help but see this thread, so here are a couple of useful ideas that might work:

If you just want to equalise the water levels, a piece of plastic waste pipe and two 90 degree elbows works very well. I use 1 1/2" waste pipe and drill a 4mm hole in the top of the centre section to glue in a one-way valve to remove the air from the pipe. This will allow water free passage from one tank to the other and small fish can traverse the pipe too, unless you fit a mesh screen on the ends. If you want larger fish to move from tank to tank, just use a larger bore pipe, using the same method, using pipe-weld to seal the joints. All these parts can be found in your local builders merchant at very reasonable prices.

Perspex tubing is very expensive in that larger sizes and problematic to seal without the correct fittings, but it does look good!

Another option is to use glass to form the tube, making it into square box shapes and silicon sealing the joints/corners. Ideal for longer runs of pipe, cheaper than perspex, but heavier and more brittle. It would need to be supported well.

One point to note: Silicon does sometimes have problems sealing to plastics, so if you intend to use silicon, be sure to roughen the surface before application, to give the silicon a good bond!

frogster221

is the plastic waste pipe your talking about clear? if you have a small none python (the cheap kind) gravel cleaning thing the very end that you stick in the gravel the clear part is the clear plastic tubing im talking about sorry i dont know how to post a picture just yet

timg

Yeah, I know the type of tubing you are talking about, but I've never found any fittings for bends for that stuff! The waste pipe is usually white or grey plastic, so you can't see through it, but over a short distance between two tanks side by side, it wouldn't matter too much. If you wanted to get creative, you could connect the opposite ends of the tanks using the glass box method with very good effect! It would look very cool to have the fish swimming across the top of the tanks, don't you think?

frogster221

it would look great but im only 15! i dont know how to do that and my parents dont help me too much they just take me to the store and say it looks good i can figure out how to cut and glue the plastic together but glass is way out of my league

GreenMan13

I would go with just pvc or abs (the black waste pipe) because they have fittings that will bend the pipe without having a huge risk of leaking or breaking. If you really want to try and use the clear pipe that it used to clean gravel with, see if any of the pvc fittings will fit that. If you cut it at a 45deg angle and glue it together it will not be that strong of a connection and I would be worried of it breaking in the future causing a flood.

If the pvc fittings don't fit that tube and you still really want to have it clear I would just save up the money and but clear pvc rather then gluing 45deg angles together.

Neville

It is risky, i think it would be better if u take the tank to the fishstore, they will do it for u. if u do it yourself the tank may leak.

sirdarksol

I don't think he's talking about drilling the tanks. I think he's talking using the laws of physics to create a bridge suspended over the space between the tanks.

August_Jacque

It's such a cool Idea... I'm so tempted, except my little guppies would probably end up in my eel's tank. I wouldn't have any guppies for long.

I've been wondering... I have a thirty gallon tank right now, and an empty fifty gallon tank. A full grown eel will need about 75 gallons of water and both those tanks put together would be 80 gallons. If I put a water bridge between the tanks, preferably cut into the tank so that the hole is toward the bottom of the tank so my eel would traverse it.. would that be just as good as having him in a 75 galon tank?

GreenMan13

No that will not work. The need for at least a 75 gallon tank is so that the eel can swim around and not feel cramped. It would be like a person having only a bedroom and a kitchen and having to crawl through a tunnel to get to each other room. Can't really run around in that small area compared to having just one big room.

frogster221

the reason i want it clear is so that the fish wont be scared to go in it, so it doesnt look like i have my plumbing going through my room, and so that i can see the fish. the piping will only be going out over the side of one tank and directly into the other. the tank's rims will be touching. i think it might be ok. o and where could i buy clear pvc tubing?

sirdarksol

With any other fish, I would agree with Greenman. With an eel, whose life is mostly spent crawling through tunnels, that might actually work.

GreenMan13

I was actually thinking clear acrylic tubes when I said clear pvc.
USPlastic
Might be cheaper then PVC. Don't know about fittings for it though.

Just did a google on clear pvc. Turns out there are companies that sell that too.
Clear PVC
More Clear PVC
That would be about $100 for a 2inch diameter with fittings.


That is true. You might have to make it with 45deg bends instead of 90deg ones though so it doesn't get stuck at too tight of a bend. I don't know how much that type of eel can bend vertically. Of course just drilling the sides would totally by pass this possible problem, if it is really even a problem.

sirdarksol

Auguste's description was to actually drill the tanks and put a connecting tube in, so that would bypass the "problem" (I also don't know how much they can bend. I've seen them double over backwards, but that can be more difficult in tight quarters.)

frogster221

can i use polycarbonate tubing instead of pvc or acrylic

sirdarksol

Yes, yes, yes, and definitely yes. Polycarb is pretty much a more dense version of acrylic (simplification, but for the practices we're concerned about here, it works), and is super difficult to break. From what I've heard, it's one of the best materials you could use for anything involving tanks, as long as you have the ability to work with it.